Refrigerating apparatus



May 17, 1938. w. w; WATT 2,117,929

REFRIGERA'IING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 24, 1934 2 Shegts-Sheet l \a f ,3 N 2/ l3 u 2 1 5&3 24 4 22 .41 42 dual kale Mo ran kmmn m INVENTOR.

C'pn'rkal Jul/rel.

BY M

HIS ATTORNEYS,

May 17, 1938. w. w. WATT REFRIGERATING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 24, 1934 INVENTOR. 'Mumn hf. Mvrr.

. BY W MUM HIS ATTORNEY:-

Patented M y 11,1938 2,117,929

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATING APPARATUS William W. Watt, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application October 24, 1934, Serial No. 749,788

8 Claims. (Cl. 62-126) The present invention relates to refrigerating showing my improved evaporator mounted apparatus and particularly to an evaporator therein; therefor. Fig. 4 is an enlarged. vertical sectional view An object of the present invention is to proof the evaporator shown in the cabinet in Fig. vide an improved evaporator for quickly freezing 2 and is taken on the line 4-4 thereof;

substances placed in thermal association there- Fig. 5 is a fragmentary top view of the evapowith. rator shown in Fig. 4;

Another object of the present invention is to Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of the provide an improved evaporator having a maxevaporator taken on the lines 6-6 of Fig. 5;' and imum of cooling surface in direct thermal'con- Fig; 7 is a sectional view of the evaporator 10 tact with walls of containers or the like placed taken on the line 'l'l of. Fig. 5. v in or on the evaporator and adapted to contain Referring to the d aw gs, for the P p Of a substance to be congealed or frozen. illustrating my invention,- I have shown in Fig.

Another object of the invention is to provide 1 thereof a refrigerator cabinet l0 having a door an improved evaporator for installation in a rell provided on the top thereof and affording acfrigerator cabinet of the so-called top opening cess to a food storage compar m (See Figs- I type which evaporator will eificiently cool the in- 2 d formed y e insulated e t c l Walls terior of the cabinet while at the same time l3 and an insulated bottom wall M. The lid or quickly chilling substances to be congealed or door II is Su y insulated and forms the p frozen. 1 wall of the food storage compartment I2. I 20 A more specific object of the invention is to Within the od Storage comp 0f provide an evaporator with a plurality of com- Cabinet there is mounted, n y Suitable partments for the reception of cups or the like manner. a t ry cooling element evaporate! receptacles, containing a substance to be congenerally d s d y th reference a t r 1:") gealcd or frozen, and constructing the compart- 20; The evaporator or cooling unit 20 includes a ments so that the walls thereof will conform to Vertically disposed portion o o i d 115- the contour of the Walls of the cups to thereby ing circulation o a r n t f d s ra mpermit substantially all of the walls of the cups Pertinent and also includes a horizontally to be in direct thermal association with the composed freezing portion The a c ol ng por- .Iil partment all and consequently refrigerant tion 2| of evaporator 20 is constructed of sheet .cjrculated through the evaporator. metal portions and (See Fig. Secured In carrying t th foregoing obje t, it is together at certain points and having certain still further object of the invention to provide other Points eof spaced apart to provide an means whereby a receptacle or cup located withpp header or manifold 26 and a lower header in a compartment formed in an, evaporator, of v or manifold 27 with passageways of any suitt type herein disclosed. can be quickly n able size or configuration connecting the headers readily removed 26 and 21 with one another. The freezing por- Further objects and advantages of the present tion 22 P evaporawr includes a sheet invention will be apparent from the following plura'hty of sheets of metal forming a plurality description, reference being had to the accomof walls of chambefr or passage The one panying drawings, wherein a preferred form of wall 33 of t Walls 9 chamber or the present invention is clearly shown. passage 32 15 secured m any smtable f' In the drawings: such as by welding, tothe upper part of the air Fio 1 discloses a refrigerator cabinet of the coohng pomon of the evaporator This wall 33 of chamber 32 is provided with an opening 34 type having a plurality of stationary walls and adjacent one end of the chamber 32 (See 4) mPvable top wall or door cooperatmg w the which communicates with the header 26 and stationary WELHS and affording access to 9. comwhich opening also erves as an outlet, for re Pertinent o d. by the Walls Within e e frigerant circulated through the chamber. At

, F 2 is an enlarged Cross-Sectional w O the end 35 of the chamber 32, opposite the end the cabinet disclosed in Fig. 1 and is taken on thereof which the opening 34 i adjacent, there 1 lines thereof Showing y r v DO- is provided an inlet 36 for the ingress of rerator mounted therein; frigerant to the chamber 32. "The lower header Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional 21 of the air cooling portion 21 of evaporator view of the cabinet taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2 20 is provided with an outlet 23] for refrigerant. 55

The inlet 36 and outlet 3'! of the evaporator are connected by suitable pipes or conduits 39 and 4| respectively with a refrigerant liquefying and circulating unit of any conventional and wellknown form shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2. Refrigerant may be admitted to the evaporator 20, under the control of any suitable valve or restrictor device 42 (see Figs. 2 and 3), through the inlet 36. Refrigerant flows from the conduit 39 into the chamber 32 through the inlet 36 at the end 35 of the chamber thence through chamber 32 to the opening 34. The refrigerant upon passing through opening 34 flows downwardly through one of the plurality of passageways 28 to header 2'! and thence upwardly through a plurality of the passageways 28 to header and through the outlet 37 and conduit 45 back to the refrigerant liquefying unit. It is to be understood that the refrigerating system may be of the so-called dry expansion type or the evaporator may, if desired, be of the flooded type.

The top wall 43 of the freezing portion 22 or of the chamber 32 of evaporator 25 has a plurality of depressions formed therein providing a plurality of compartments 44. These compartments 44 may be of any desired horizontal cross-sectional form and are preferably cylindrical as disclosed and the side walls 46 thereof preferably diverge inwardly from the top to the bottom thereof to form tapering compartments. The bottom wall 41 of the chamber 32 is provided with a plurality of depressions 48 each of which are disposed directly opposite the bottom wall 49 of the compartments 44. The depressions 48 abut against and may be welded or otherwise secured to the walls 49 so as to strengthen the chamber 32 against deformation due to internal pressures. It will be noted that the structure described permits substantially all of the walls of compartments 44 to be exposed to refrigerant flowing through the chamber 32 or to be in direct thermal contact with the refrigerant. The entire evaporator 20 may be plated with ametallic plating applied thereto in any suitable manner or it may be coated with a vitreous enamel coating which may be baked thereon to aiford a neat and durable finish.

Each of the plurality of compartments 44 is adapted to receive and support a cup adapted to contain water or any other substance to be congealed'orfrozen. For this purpose I have shown a cup 5| located in a compartment 44. The cup 5| includes a side wall 52 which is of substantially the same contour as the side walls 46 of compartment 44' or in other words the side wall 52 of the cups 5| diverge inwardly from the top to the bottom of the cup. The cup is adapted to fit into the compartment 44 in such a manner that, when its side wall 52 engages the side wall 46 of the compartment, its bottom wall also engages the bottom wall 49 of the compartment. The cups 5| are slightly taller than the heighth of compartments 44 and have a flange 53 formed around their top edge. Flange 53 is normally spaced above the surface of the top wall 43 of the chamber 32, when the cup is in position in compartment 44, for the purpose of permitting a key or lever device to be placed between the flange 53 and the wall surface 43 to effect removal of the cup 5| from the compartment 44. I provide a key, lever or the like instrument 55 for prying the cups .5l loose from the walls of compartment 44. The instrument 55 includes two legportions 56 and a handle portion 51. Leg portions 56 of instrument 55 straddles or surrounds a portion of the walls 52 of the cups 5i and fit between the flange 53, formed on cup 5i, and. the top surface of the top wall 43 of chamber 32 in any suitable manner to form a lever for prying the cup upwardly and out of the compartment 44. To remove a cup 56 from the compartment 44 the handle end 51 of instrument 55 may be manually moved upwardly or downwardly, as desired, to loosen and move the cup into the position shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 7.

From the foregoing description of the apparatus disclosed it will be apparent that I have provided an improved evaporator and particularly an improved evaporator for installation in the type of refrigerator cabinet herein disclosed. My improved evaporator and the arrangement of the cups therein affords fast freezing of substance contained in the cups. The improved evaporator can be manufactured at a low cost thus rendering same particularly applicable for installation in a cabinet of the type herein shown and described since such cabinet is of the small low, cost variety adapted for installation and use in camps, lodges and summer cottages. My improved evaporator and the individual receptacles or cups supported therein permits removal-of one or more ice cubes or blocks as desired from the evaporator without disturbing other cups desired to be retained in the evaporator thereby avoiding overloading the refrigerating apparatus in an evaporator of an apparatus of the type dis- I closed are seldom required to be removed at one time from the evaporator, thus permitting a refrigerant liquefying and circulating unit of small capacity and low manufacturing cost to be employed.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having a bottom wall and a plurality of side walls defining a food storage compartment, a movable door on the top of said food storage compartment affording access thereto, an evaporator of a refrigerant circulating system mounted in said compartment, said evaporator including a vertically disposed air cooling portion and a horizontally disposed freezing portion, said freezing portion of said evaporator comprising an elongated substantially flat closed refrigerant expansion chamber having an inlet and an outlet for the circulation of refrigerant therethrough, the top wall of said chamber having a plurality of depressions therein each forming a compartment for the reception of a cup adapted to contain a substance to be congealed or frozen, and substantially all the walls of each of saidcup receiving compartments being in intimate thermal contact with refrigerant adapted to be circulated through said expansion chamber.

2. A refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having a. bottom wall and a plurality of side walls defining a food storage compartment, a movable door on the top ,of said food storage compartment affording access thereto, an evaporator of a refrigerant circulating system mounted in said compartment, said evaporator including a vertically disposed air cooling portion and a horizontally disposed freezing portion, said freezing portion of said evaporator comprising an elongated substantially flat closed refrigerant expansion chamber having an inlet and an outlet for the circulation of refrigerant therethrough, the top wall of said chamber having a plurality of depressions therein each forming a compartment for the reception of a cup adapted to contain a substance to be congealed or frozen, and substantially all the walls of each of said cup receiving compartments being in intimate thermal contact with refrigerant adapted to be circulated through said expansion chamber, the side walls of each of said cup receiving compartments converging inwardly from the top to the bottom of said cup compartments.

3. An evaporator for a refrigerating system comprising walls forming an elongated substantially flat horizontally disposed refrigerant chamber therebetween having an inlet and an outlet for the circulation of refrigerant therethrough,

the top wall of said chamber having a plurality of depressions therein each forming a compartment for the reception of a cup, each compartment having a closed bottom wall and side walls extending upwardly therefrom and entirely therearound, a cup removably disposed within each of said compartments and adapted to contain a substance to be congealed or frozen, and the bottom and side walls of each of said compartments being in intimate thermal contact with refrigerant adapted to be circulated through said chamber and with substantially all of the walls of said cups.

4. An evaporator for a refrigerating system comprising walls forming an elongated substantially flat horizontally disposed refrigerant chamber therebetween having an inlet and an outlet for the circulation of refrigerant therethrough, the top wall of said chamber having a plurality of depressions therein each forming a compartment for the reception of a cup, each compartment having a closed bottom wall and side walls extending upwardly therefrom and entirely therea-round, a cup removably disposed within each of said compartments and adapted to contain a substance to be congealed or frozen, and the bottom and side walls of each of said compartments being in intimate thermal contact with refrigerant adapted to be circulated through said chamber and with substantiallyall of the walls of said cups, the side walls of each of said compartments converging inwardly from the top to the bottom v of said compartments.

5. An evaporator for a refrigerating system comprising walls forming an elongated substantially flat horizontally disposed refrigerant chamber therebetween having an inlet and an outlet for the circulation of refrigerant therethrough, the top wall of said chamber having a plurality of depressions therein each forming a compartment for the reception of a cup, each compartment having a closed bottom wall and sidewalls extending upwardly therefrom and entirely therearound, a cup removably disposed within each of said compartments and adapted to contain a substance to be congealed or frozen, the bottom and side walls of each of said compartments being in intimate thermal contact with refrigerant adapted to be circulated through said chamber and with substantially all of the walls of said cups, the side walls of each of said compartments converging inwardly from the top to the bottom of said compartments, and the walls of said cups being of ing portion, said portions of said evaporator having closed expansion chambers formed therein, means for "circulating a refrigerant medium through the expansion chamber of said portions of said evaporator, said freezing portion of said evaporator comprising an elongated substantially flat element having a plurality of depressions formed in its top wall each providing a compartment for the reception of a cup, each compartment having a closed bottom wall and side walls extending upwardly therefrom, a cup removably disposed within each of said compartments and adapted to contain a substance to be congealed or frozen, and the bottom and side walls of each of said compartments being in intimate thermal contact with refrigerant adapted to be circulated through said element and with substantially all of the walls of said cups.

'7. A unitary evaporator structure for a refrigerating system comprising a vertically disposed air cooling portion and a horizontally disposed freezing'portion, said portions of said evaporator having closed expansion chambers formed therein, means for circulating a refrigerant medium through the expansion chambers of said portions of said evaporator, said freezing portion of said evaporator comprising an elongated substantially flat element having a plurality of depressions formed in its top wall each providing a compartment for the reception of a cup, each compartment having a closed bottom wall and side walls extending upwardly therefrom, a cup removably disposed within each of said compartments and adapted to contain a substance to be congealed or frozen, and the bottom and side walls of each of said compartments being in intimate thermal contact with refrigerant adapted to be circulated through said element and with substantially all of the walls of said cups, the side walls of each of said compartments converging inwardly from the top to the bottom of said compartments.

8. A unitary evaporator structure for a refrigerating system comprising a vertically disposed air cooling portion and a horizontally disposed freezing portion, said portions of said evaporator having closed expansion chambers formed therein, means for circulating a refrigerant medium through the expansion chambers of said portions of said evaporator, said freezing portion of said evaporator comprising an elongated substantially flat element having a plurality of depressions formed in its top wall each providing a compartment for the reception of a cup, each compartment having a closed bottom wall and side walls extending upwardly therefrom, a cup removably disposed within each of said compartments and adapted to contain a substance to be congealed or frozen, the bottom and side walls of each of said compartments being in intimate thermal contact with refrigerant adapted to be circulated through said element and with substantially all of the walls of said cups, the side walls of each of said compartments converging inwardly from the top to the bottom of said compartments, and the walls of said cups being of substantially the same contour as the converging compartment walls.

WILLIAM W. WATT. 

